The Light Weight User Interface Toolkit (LWUIT) is a UI library targeted for mass-market mobile devices. LWUIT offers advanced UI capabilities and a clean API that is inspired by Swing.
With LWUIT, Java ME developers don't need to write device-specific code for different screen sizes, but instead can add UI components as needed to provide a consistent and compelling look and feel to their applications.
LWUIT is supported on MIDP 2.0/CLDC 1.1 and can also be ported on CDC platforms.
The LWUIT library is bundled with applications during application development. LWUIT is an open technology, with its source and binary freely accessible for individual or commercial use.
For source code, architectural details and more, visit the LWUIT open source community.
Overview
The LWUIT library has a clean separation between the model, view, and the controller. For example, the List Component can display an unlimited number of items because it only renders what is visible, while the model has the data responsibility. You can show a very large List without worrying about memory consumption.
One of LWUIT's key benefits is rapid development. Since the API is inspired by Swing, it is easy to learn and adopt. LWUIT itself was built from scratch and does not depend on AWT.
Another benefit is easy deployment, and little, if any, device-specific code. To ensure portability, LWUIT was built using low-level common elements in MIDP 2.0. LWUIT applications look and run consistently across different devices and different Java runtimes.Everything is customizable and extensible. So if there is a missing feature or component, you can create your own and plug it in your code.
LWUIT has been tested on today's mass market devices. Its only requirements are MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.1.
Key Features
- Layouts Manager A very flexible and powerful feature, particularly if the application runs on different screen sizes
- Pluggable Look and Feel & Themes The toolkit lets you create a CSS-like file that can be loaded or changed at runtime, controllling the look and feel of the application
- Fonts The library features bitmap fonts and a tool that lets you create fonts on your desktop
- Touch Screen All LWUIT components support touch events. No special coding is needed for a LWUIT application to run on a touch-enabled device
- Animations & Transitions Various visual effects available out-of-the-box through the library add life to applications
- 3D and SVG Graphics Integration
- Tools LWUIT provides a Theme Creator tool for editing and creating themes and resources. This is a standalone application for creating and viewing background painting, objects, and other theme elements
- Bi-directional text support support for right to left text
Enhancements in Release 1.3
- Additional UI Controls
- Tree
- Table
- Spinner
- Bi-directional text support - extends LWUIT support for right-to-left languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Thaana
- Virtual keyboard support - this functionality enhances the touch screen support through LWUIT by enabling customizable user input from applications
- Enhanced performance - With the currently released version, the rendering and animation through LWUIT applications can be made even better, and the obfuscated application size will be even lower
- Enhancements to Theme Creator - the tool now enables using SVG backgrounds for creating themes
